Although Prova in Chelsea closed late last year the brand will live on in Grand Central Terminal. Donatella Arpaia will open Prova Pizzabar in the commuter terminal along with partners Rosario Procino and Pasquale Cozzolino of Ribalta Pizza, who were also partners in Prova. A fourth partner in Prova, Maurizio de Rosa (also of Sushi Nakazawa), is conspicuously absent from the new venture. Arpaia tells Eater that the new restaurant will occupy the space that currently houses Two Boots Pizza, which is scheduled to vacate the premises at the end of this month. She expects construction to take three to four months. Prova Pizzabar will have a dining room with waiter service and seating for approximately 40 to 50 guests as well as an eight seat bar with a full liquor license. Additionally, there will be a counter selling pizza by the slice.
While Prova specialized in traditional Neapolitan-style pizzas cooked in a wood fired oven this is not possible in Grand Central Terminal and instead the pies at Prova Pizzabar will be "Neapolitan-inspired" and cooked in stone deck electric ovens. Chef Cozzolino tells Eater that the Polin ovens he is employing where specially imported from Italy and can reach 900°, matching a wood oven output. There will be two types of pizza sold at Prove Pizzabar, both using the same long maturation dough that was perfected at the original Prova. In the restaurant there will be traditional personal sized round pies (but no uni pie option), and at the take-out counter there will be rectangular pizzas sold by the slice.
In other GCT news, Tom Colicchio is planning two 'wichcraft kiosks in the station's food hall, and Julian Medina is opening an iteration of Toloache. Stay tuned for more details on Prova 2.0 and the new dining options at GCT as they become available.